The Skeptical OB

Vision is arguably the most important of our 5 senses. It allows us to see a grain of salt, a mountain in the distance and everything in between. It is the key to game hunting, to precision manufacturing, to hitting a home run. It is 100% natural. All human beings are “designed” to see. [pullquote […]

Financial conflicts of interest loom large in our evaluation of research and they should. But financial conflicts of interest are not limited to the impact of big corporations. It is easy to understand how formula companies might represent a major conflict of interest in research about the benefits of breastfeeding; no one has any trouble […]

Natural mothering advocates employ affirmations as a form of magical thinking. They appear to believe that if they just wish hard enough, they can affect the likelihood of the unmedicated vaginal birth that they are supposed to want or the success of the breastfeeding relationship they’re supposed to desire. That’s nonsense, of course. But such […]

There’s a new paper on breastfeeding and IQ. Is breast feeding associated with offspring IQ at age 5? Findings from prospective cohort: Lifestyle During Pregnancy Study yielded surprising results: [pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]We need to know not merely how long women breastfeed, but why they stop.[/pullquote] In multivariable linear regression analyses adjusted […]

Deregistered Australian midwife Lisa Barrett was found not guilty in two homebirth deaths. A former South Australian midwife charged over the deaths of two babies during home births has been found not guilty of two counts of manslaughter. In the first case of its kind in Australia, Lisa Barrett, 52, pleaded not guilty over the […]

Prof. Rafael Perez-Escamilla and his colleagues at the Yale School of Public Health have joined the cadre of medical misogynists by adding breastfeeding to a long list of medical issues where women’s self reports and suffering are dismissed out of hand. Even I, a deeply cynical person, am stunned by the viciousness of their claim. […]

Last week March for Science censored scientific information in an effort to squelch discussion that questioned the benefits of breastfeeding. It was a startling tactic for an organization that claims to promote science. Referring to Sci Moms, a group that dared to suggest that breastfeeding promotion has risks as well as benefits, the administrators of […]

We are in the midst of a dramatic resurgence of vaccine preventable diseases sickening hundreds of children at the cost of millions of dollars. It’s time to take a page from the lactivist playbook and start a Baby Friendly Vaccine Initiative. The central premise of breastfeeding promotion effort is that no mother would refuse to […]

Breastfeeding professional Kathleen Kendall-Tackett PhD, IBCLC wrote an editorial for the latest issue of Clinical Lactation entitled Concerns About the 10 Steps. She’s attempting to respond to growing criticism of breastfeeding promotion initiatives by the Fed Is Best Foundation. The second paragraph sounds quite reasonable. While I frequently do not agree with Fed Is Best’s […]

What’s the most important tool of any science denialist? It’s the delete button, of course! From anti-vaxxers to homebirth advocates, from creationists to climate deniers, advocates of pseudoscience sharply distinguish themselves from advocates of science by aggressively deleting any comments that question received wisdom and banning those who persist in inserting actual scientific evidence into […]